Music-leaf turner.



F. AGKERMAN & J.. H SULLIVAN.

MUSIC LEAFTUENER. APPLICATION FILED mum. 1914.

1,1 10,521 Patented Sept. 15, 1914,

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AG'KERMAN & J. H. SULLIVAN.

' MUSIC LEAF TURNER.

APPLIGATIOfi FILED MAILG, 1914.

1 1 1 O, 5 2 1 Patented Sept. 153-1914.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK ACKERMAN AND JAMES H. SULLIVAN, 0F VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA.

MUSIC-LEAF TURNER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 15, 1914.

Application filed March 6, 1914. Serial No. 822,876.

To all whom. it may concern:

Be it known that we, FREDERICK AcKnR- MAN, a subject of the Emperor of Germany, and JAMES' H. SULLIVAN, a citizen of the United States, both residents of the city of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Music-Leaf Turners, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in music leaf turners, with more particular reference to those for use with pianos and the like, and the object of our invention is to devise a simple and efiicient means the use of which will enable the player to turn over the leaves, as required, quickly and without having to stop playing to do so, a common and unsatisfactory occurrence at the present time where the leaves have to be separated and turned over by hand and which detracts considerably from the performance of the player and the enjoyment of the audience, and particularly so, in piano playing, where the player is accompanying a singer.

A further object is to devise a means for turning over the leaves of music which is portable, compact in construction, direct acting, and in which the number of parts necessary for its operation is reduced to a mini mum.

\Ve attain these objects by the means illusstrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a front .view of our device fully assembled. Fig. 2 is a side view of the lower portion of our device. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of our device, the cover being removed. Fig. 4 is a plan of the view shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is'a cross sectional View on the line XX in Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a partial plan of the view shown in Fig. 5, showing the arrangement of the operating mechanism. Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the toothed cylinder. Fig. 8 is a plan of the toothed cylinder. Fig. 9 is a plan of one of the operating rod pinions and stops. Fig. 10 is a side elevation of the view shown in i Fig. 9.

suitable material and of suitable dimensions.

2 is a wall of the same material as the base 1, which extends around the base on the upper face thereof, being secured firmly thereto and having the threaded holes 3 provided therethrough at the opposite corners, as shown in Fig. 3.

4 is a. cover formed after the manner shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and adapted to be detachably connected to the base 1, to in- 1 close the operating mechanism of the device, and also to act as a guide for the operating rods which pass slidably through a circular opening in the closed upper end of the cover, by means of the screws 5, which pass through the cover 4 to be screwed into the threaded holes 3.

6 is a bracket secured to the cover 1 at a suitable position, which bracket is adapted to carry a music rack of the ordinary type.

7 are clips carried on the sides of the device when assembled as shown in Fig. 2, being secured thereto by the screws 8, on which they are adapted to swivel so as to be extended outwardly from the device when in use to engage the music rack carried by the bracket 6 and to hold it in an inclined position.

9 is a plate carried by the base 1 and supported at a suitable height therefrom by means of the corner posts 10, the lower ends of which posts are rigidly secured into the base while their upper ends are adapted to receive the screws 33, which screws secure the plate 9 to the posts 10.

The operating rods are, in the device taken for illustration, four in number, 11, 12, 13 and 1 1, and are formed of hollow tubing, with the exception of 14, which may be either hollow or solid. These rods work within each other, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5, that is to say, 11 is the outer rod, through which pass all the rest in the order named, viz., 12 through 11, 13 through 12, and 14, through 13. Each of these rods extends beyond the other at each end so that the attachments carried by the rods will be clear of each other when revolving, these attachments being the toothed members 15 on the lower ends of the rods and the set collars 16 on the upper ends. The operating rods, when assembled together, pass through an opening formed centrally in the plate 9, and are rotatably supported by the inner rod 1 1,

the lower end of which passes through the base and is shouldered thereon. Each of the toothed members 15 is formed as shown in Figs. 9 and 10, that is, having the bore 17 through which its respective rod passes, a plurality of teeth 18 formed on one-half of its circumference, while on the other half is formed integrally a stop 19, which stop is preferably formed with its sides 33 and 34 concave, as shown in Fig. 9, so that it may fit against the periphery of the rotatable cylinder 22, hereinafter mentioned, when in the normal position, as shown in full in Fig.

'6, and also when in position limiting the travel of the operating rod to which it is attached, as indicated dotted in Fig. 6. Each gear 15 is firmly secured to its respective rod, to the lower end thereof, as shown in Fig. 3, and when the device is assembled the stops 19 are normally in alinement with each other on the transverse center line of the device, in the position shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The set collars 16 are each secured to their respective rods by the set screws 20 and each set collar is provided with a short tubular member 21 which extends outwardly therefrom and which is firmly secured to its respective collar. These members 21 are formed of thin material and are split on one side, so that they will have a spring grip on the members which are engaged into them, as hereinafter described. The set collars 16 are so positioned on the rods that the tubular members 21 will normally lie along the longitudinal center line of the device.

22 is a cylinder adapted to be rotatable between the plate 9 and the upper face of the base 1, on the circumference of which cylinder areprovided, at specified positions,

as shown in Fig. 7, sets of teeth 23 which are adapted to engage successively the pinions 15 as'the cylinder is rotated. The number and pitch of the teeth 23, it may be here stated, and also in the tooth member 15, is such that one complete travel of each set of teeth 23 will cause the respective rod which is actuated thereby through its respective toothed member to revolve one half-turn in either direction, according to the direction of rotation of the cylinder 22. The cylinder 22 is rotated by means of the pinion 2 1, which is secured to the lower end of the cylinder, as shown more particularly in Fig. 7, and the gear 25, which engages the pinion 24. The gear 25 is carried by the base 1 and is revoluble thereon, being actuated by the lever 26, which is secured into the gear 25 at a suitable position, this position being determined by the amount of travel required by the lever 26 in order to cause suflicient rotation of the cylinder 22 to actuate all the operating rods of the device as required. This lever 26 extends outwardly from the device, when assembled, its outer extremity being carried to a point within easy reach of the operator.

The wall 2 is cut away to allow for the travel of the lever.

27 are metal bars in thin section, one end of each of which is made circular in cross section and slightly larger in diameter than the internal diameter of the tubular members 21, so that when the round portion of the bar 27 is pushed into its respective tubular member 21, it, the tubular member, being split, as hereinbefore mentioned, will spread slightly while at the same time taking a firm grip of the inserted end of the bar 27. These bars 27 are made long enough so that a sheet of music maybe hung thereon, the manner of attachment of the music being shown in Fig. 1, that is, by means of spring clips 28 of any ordinary type which clip the sheet of music to the bar 27.

. Having now indicated the principal parts of our invention we will now describe the manner in which it operates.

I Our device is placed, fully assembled as shown in Fig. 1, on the pianoforte in front of the player. The music sheets are placed on the music rack, which is, as hereinbefore mentioned, carried by the bracket 6, and held in an inclined position by the clips 7. Each single sheet is then attached by its upper edges to a bar 27 by the clips 28, the attachment being made in the proper rotation, that is, the first sheet to be played is clipped to the uppermost bar, the second sheet to the next bar, the third sheet to the third bar, and the fourth sheet to the lowermost bar, after which playing may be commenced. On approaching the last note on the first page the player quickly moves the lever 26 sufiiciently from right to left, thus actuating the gear 25, which, acting on the pinion 24, causes the cylinder 22 to rotate sufficiently to cause a complete travel of the lowermost set of teeth 23, which in turn rotates the lowermost toothed member 15 whereby the operating rod 14 and its bar 27 are moved through a complete half-circle until its stop 19 strikes against the periphery of the toothed cylinder 22, thus carrying the first sheet of music from the right hand of the player to the left and exposing the second page on the left hand, and showing at the same time, the third page 011 the right hand. The foregoing operation is repeated when approaching the foot of each page requiring to be turned over until the sheets have all been played over, when, if it is desired that the piece be played over again,

.a simple movement of the lever 26 from left to right brings all the sheets back to their original position. The bars 27 may be left on the sheets for use on another occasion, when the piece is changed for another, as on account of the cheapness of the bars and their being standardized, each piece of music may be provided with its own set of bars 27, so as to be immediately attached to the tubular members 21 when required.

The device vshown in the illustration is adapted for use with four sheets of music or eight pages, but it will be noticed that its scope may be considerably extended by the addition of, and re-arrangement of parts, that is to say, more sets of teeth 23 could be provided on the cylinder 22 to actuate more operating rods, from which it will be seen that our device, although designed primarilyifor standard vmusic, is capable of adaptation to any ordinary conditions likely to be met with in pianoforte playing.

It will be seen, therefore, that we have devised a simple and efiicient music leaf turner, the use of which will enable pianoforte players to turn over the leaves of music quickly and without having to stop playing to do so, as at the present time, when it is frequently difiicult to do this on account of having to seperate the leaves by hand before turning, the stoppage of the playing caused thereby detracting considerably from the performance. It will be seen, further, that we have devised a music leaf turner which is portable, compact in construction, direct acting, and capable of being adapted to any ordinary conditions liable to be met with in pianoforte playing as practiced at the present time.

What we claim as our invention is:

1. A music leaf turner comprising a base, a plurality of tubular members vertically supported on said base and rotatable thereon, the said tubular members being rotatably disposed within each other, independent toothed members carried on the lower ends of the said tubular members, a stop member carried by each said toothed member, independent spring socket members adapted to be detachably secured to the upper ends of the said tubular members, leaf engaging arms adapted to engage the said spring sockets, a revoluble toothed cylinder means for rotating the cylinder whereby said cylinder is adapted to be carried into mesh with the said toothed members of the tubular members whereby the said tubular members are rotated successively one after the other, and against the periphery of said cylinder the stop members bear both in their normal and final position and means for actuating the said toothed cylinder, as and for the purpose specified.

2. A music leaf turner comprising a plurality of vertically disposed tubular members each of which is rotatable within the other, a support for the lower end of the innermost tubular member, independent toothed members carried on the lower ends of the said tubular members, a stop carried by each said toothed member, independent spring socket members adapted to be detachably secured to the upper ends of the tubular members, leaf engaging arms adapted to engage the said spring socket members, a revoluble toothed cylinder means for rotating the cylinder whereby said cylinder is adapted to be carried into mesh with the said toothed members of the tubular members whereby the said tubular members are 1'0- tated successively one after the other, and against the periphery of said cylinder the stop members bear both in their normal and final position, a pinion carried by the said toothed cylinder, a gear engaging said pinion, and a lever for actuating the said gear, as and for the purpose specified.

3. In a music leaf turner, the combination with a suitable base and a plurality of tubular members vertically supported on said base and rotatable thereon, the said tubular members being rotatably disposed within each other, of a plurality of leaf engaging arms each of which is adapted to be detachably secured to a corresponding tubular member, independent toothed members carried on the lower ends of the said tubular members, stops carried by the said toothed members, a revoluble toothed cylinder means for rotating the cylinder whereby said cylinder is adapted to successively rotate the said toothed members, and against the periphery of said cylinder the stop members bear both in their normal and final position, a pinion carried by the said toothed cylinoer, a gear engaging said pinion, and a lever for actuating the said gear, as and for the purpose specified.

4. A music leaf turner comprising, in combination, a base, a plurality of post members secured to said base and extending upwardly therefrom, a plate carried on the upper ends of said posts and secured there- 1% to, said plate being provided with a central circular opening, a plurality of vertical tubular members extending through the said circular opening and rotatably supported on said base, an independent toothed member carried by each tubular member on the lower end thereof, a stop carried by said toothed member, an independent spring socket member carried by each tubular member and adapted to be detachably secured toward the 5, upper ends thereof, a leaf engaging arm for each spring socket, said arms being adapted for attachment to a sheet of music, a toothed cylinder adapted to be revoluble between the aforesaid plate and the base, 1% and means for rotating the cylinder and to successively engage and rotate the said toothed members, a pinion carried by the said toothed cylinder, a gear engaging said pinion, a lever for actuating said gear, and 1 means for guiding the said tubular members centrally, as and for the purpose szecified.

5. In a music leaf turner, a plurality of turnable members, music leaf supporting arms and a segmental gear portion carried o 10 ating gear portion and a co-acting por-l Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents tion with which the radial stops engage to limit the movement of the turnable members, as and for the purpose specified.

Dated at Vancouver, B. C. this thirteenth day of February, A. D. 1914.

FRED. ACKER-MAN. JAMES H. SULLIVAN. Witnesses HORACE W. BUCK, G110. W. MEOHNISH.

each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

